The investigations on the teachers ’ attitudes to dance in the face of scholastic requirement of dance in middle schools in Heisei 24（2012）
academic year.
YONEZAWA Michiko
1）Introduction
On the 28th of March, Heisei 20（2008）year, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology（MEXT）
notified the New Curriculum Guideline for kindergarten, elementary school and middle school. As the transitional treatment, the New Guideline was embodied in advance for the subjects of mathematics and science on the 1st of April, Heisei 21
（2009）year, and the full enforcement was planned on the 1st of April, Heisei 24（2012）, this year.
In the New Guideline, what should be noted is, it seems to the author, the scholastic requirement of dance and budo（MEXT New Guideline, 2008, pp. 91─94）.
While the author is now engaged in research in the Graduate Course in Kanagawa University, she teaches dance in a women’s middle and high schools in Tokyo. She has also been working in many stages as a dancer, a producer and a dance composer, and still a instructor in various dance trainings.
The author conducted a survey by free description on what points in teaching dance the teachers felt difficult after they participated in her dance training course in Heisei 20（2008）
1） Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to: r201170249bl@kanagawa-u.
ac.jp
year, just before the scholastic requirement of dance had been embodied. She also conducted another survey by the questionnaire in Heisei 24（2012）year, just after the requirement of dance had been enforced, to see what the circumstances was around dance and the teachers’ attitude to dance at that point.
In the present article, some considerations was made, from the standpoints of a dance teacher and a dancer also, on the issues including teachers’ attitude, the circumstances around dance in school in the face of the requirement, based upon the surveys conducted before and after the requirements.
1． Investigation I：Teachers’ attitude to dance before the requirement
As noted above, dance（and budo）was included into compulsory subjects in middle schools in the New Guideline in Heisei 24
（2012）year. In the first and second grades in middle schools, all the students must experience all the physical activities, including Physical Fitness, Apparatus Gymnastics, Track and Field, Swimming, Ball Games, Budo, and Dance and Theory of Sport and Physical Education. In the third grade, they must continue to learn Physical Fitness and Theory of Sport and Physical Education, but they can make their choices for other activities.
Concerning dance, it was included in an optional subject but should be coeducational in the Heisei 1 year transformation of the Curriculum Guideline. The contents were that the students make a choice of one between Budo and Dance in the first grade, and make a choice of two among Ball Games, Budo and Dance（The Ministry of Education, 1989）. But since it had been suggested in the former Curriculum Guideline（The Ministry of Education, 1977）that Budo is for male students, and Dance is for female students, there were a more or less distinction between the choices of male and female students.
Now since dance has been included into a compulsory subject
for both male and female students in the New Guideline（Mext, 2008）, the teachers with little or no dance experience, especially male teachers, have come to be confronted by dance. It is predicted, therefore, that some teachers may feel uneasy or difficult in teaching dance.
The present investigation was made for the participants to the author’s dance training course in Heisei 20（2008）year, before the requirement. They were asked to write down freely about the difficulties or any other questions on teaching dance. The results of Investigation I and their free descriptions were used to make the questionnaires for Investigation II.
1. 1 Objective
The objective was to explore the difficulties the teachers might feel before the requirement.
1. 2 Method 1. 2. 1 Subjects
The subjects were the physical education teachers that participated in the author’s dance training course（The theme:
Dance for both males and females）during The Heisei 20（2008）
year Annual Convention for Training for the Health and Physical Education in Japan promoted by The Institute for the Private School Education and supported by The Union of the Private Middle and High Schools in Japan（The theme: Towards the discussion and practice of the New Guideline）held on August 7 - 8, Heisei 20（2008）year in a High School, Tokyo.
1. 2. 2 Procedure for collecting data Inquiry on the spot, without signature 1. 2. 3 Type for response
Free description
1. 2. 4 The total number of response（n. of respondent） 34（26）
1. 3 Results and Discussion
Table 1. 1 shows the attributes of the respondents. Table 1. 2 is the categorization of the free descriptive responses on the basis of the author’s own criterion. Figure 1. 1 is the graphic illustration of the data.
In spite of insufficient data, the results of the present
Table 1. 1 Attributes of the respondents
School・Sex f
Middle・Female 0
Middle・Male 0
High・Female 5
High・Male 4
Middle & High・Female 4 Middle & High・Male 3
Unknown・Female 6
Unknown・Male 4
Total 26
Table 1. 2 Categorized difficulties in teaching dance Categories of difficulty f ％
1. Creating the works 10 29.4
2. Dance for male students 4 11.8
3. Leadership of teachers
（little experience， not good at dance） 4 11.8 4. Introduction at the beginning of class 3 8.8 5. Treatment for student’ s characteristics 3 8.8
6. Basic steps 2 5.9
7. Introduction at the beginning of curriculum 2 5.9
8. Small works available 2 5.9
9. Others 4 11.8
Total 34 100
investigation seems to cover the wide range of difficulties the teacher was confronting with at the stage before the requirement.
The category of Creating Works included the largest number of difficulty. Below were some of them.
・the way to create, movement, motive
・basic movements in creative dance
・composition, movements of hands and legs
・natural expression by movements
・physical expression of image
・physical expression of communication
In the New Guideline, the students can make a choice of one among the creative dance, the fork dance and the contemporary rhythmic dance. Many teachers seem to feel difficult in “the creativity（expression of image）” in the creative dance at that point before the requirement. The fact that 7 out of 10 respondents were female teachers suggests that female teachers were imaging the creative dance to be done in their schools.
Figure 1. 1 Difficulties in teaching dance
As noted later, Nakamura（2009; 2010）who investigated for public middle schools in Tokyo showed that the contemporary rhythmic dance was chosen most in both male and the female classes（38.1％ in the male 1st grade, 46.8％ in the female 1st grade）, followed by the creative dance in the female 1st grade
（45.3％）and the fork dance in the male 1st grade（31.0％）in Heisei 20（2008）year. She also obtained the prediction from the answers that such tendency would continue in Heisei 24（2012）
year, this year.
“Motivating male students” is one of the difficulties in “Dance for male students”. Since four respondents were all males, it seems that they responded in anticipation of it in their own classes.
The responses of “Without experience of dance” and “Not good at dance” seem potentially to be related with the responses in all categories. It was, however, hard to imagine that 3 out of 4 respondents were female. This suggests that female teachers were ready to teach dance themselves after the requirement.
Four male respondents who responded by “Content that male teacher can teach” also responded by “Ashamed to teach dance”
and “My dignity may be impaired”. It is quite interesting to know how deeply dance is related with such gender. Further studies must be done in the future.
“Treatment of shy students” and “Treatment of sluggish students” were included in the category of “Treatment of the students’ characteristics”.
2． Investigation II：Teachers’ attitude to dance and the survey of the circumstances around dance after the requirement
Making questionnaires on the basis of the results in Invest. I and other studies, the second investigation was carried out on
“Difficulties in dance class”. The results were applied with factor analysis. Four factors were extracted. The survey was done at
the same time on the circumstances around dance after the requirement.
2. 1 Objective
The objective was to see the circumstances around dance and analyze the structure of the teachers’ attitude to dance after the requirement.
2. 2 Method 2. 2. 1 Subjects
The following were the people to whom the questionnaires were sent by mail:
The physical education teachers who participated in the author’s dance training course（The theme: How to teach the contemporary rhythmic dance or some advices to be pointed out;
Dance for both males and females）during The Annual Conventions for Training for the Health and Physical Education in Japan promoted by The Institute for the Private School Education and supported by The Union of the Private Middle and High Schools in Japan（The theme: Towards the discussion and practice of the New Guideline and so on）, Heisei 17─20（2005─
2008）years, Tokyo.
The physical education teachers who participated in the author’s dance training course（The theme: Introduction to Dance）during The Annual Conventions for Training for the Health and Physical Education promoted by The Association of the Private Middle and High Schools in Tokyo, Heisei 21（2009）
and 24（2012）years, Tokyo.
The physical education teachers in the middle schools that belonged to The Association of the Private Middle and High Schools in Tokyo.
2. 2. 2 Procedure for collecting data
The questionnaire were sent by mail, and the answers were
collected by fax
2. 2. 3 Period for collecting data From June, 2012 to July, 2012.
2. 2. 4 Questionnaire items
The items for the survey for the dance circumstance were made on the basis of Nakamura（2009; 2010）. The items of the questionnaires for the teachers’ attitude to dance were made on the basis of the results of Invest. I in the present article and on the basis of Ohashi & Kumagai（2009）. After all 23 items were created on “Difficulties in dance class”.
The questionnaires consisted of 23 Likert type items. Every item had a 5-point psychometric scale as below：
1. Strongly disagree 2. Disagree
3. Neither agree nor disagree 4. Agree
5. Strongly agree
The respondents were asked to choose one of 5 scales. Non- Likert type questionnaires about the circumstance around dance were also used including free description. The responses were made without signature.
2. 2. 6 Response rate
37/211（at the stage of July, 2012）2）
2. 3 Results and Discussions
The main results are shown in Table 2. 1 to 2. 10 and Figures 2. 1
2） At this stage when the manuscript is revised, the total number of the answers is 50.
to 2. 3.
（1） ％ of the requirement of dance
Almost 90％ of the middle schools surveyed here employed the requirement of dance（Table 2. 1）. In Nakamura（2009; 2010）, 80％ for the female classes and 60％ for the male classes were predicted to adopt dance in the first and second grades in Heisei 24（2012）year. So much higher ％ were obtained in Heisei 24
（2012）than the predictions in Heisei 21 and 22（2009 and 2010）.
Since ％ of the female schools were 43.2％ and the coeducational schools 48.6％ in the present survey, and almost all schools were coeducational schools in Nakamura（2009; 2010）on the other hand, it might be difficult to compare directly these results. In spite of this, the height of ％ in the present survey, could not be attributed to such difference. It reveals that many schools, coeducational or separate, are trying to proceed dance following the New Guideline. In more than 10％ of the schools, dance was
Table 2. 1 ％ of the requirement of dance
Choices f ％
compulsory 33 89.2
optional 2 5.4
no class 2 5.4
Total 37 100.0
Table 2. 2 # of dance teacher（male）
# f ％
None 20 54.1
1 8 21.6
2 1 2.7
3 1 2.7
4 2 5.4
6 1 2.7
Unknown or no response 4 10.8
Total 37 100.0
still optional or they did not have dance class.
（2） # of dance teachers
More than 50％ of the schools was “None” for male dance teacher
（Table 2. 2）in the present survey. Nakamura（2009; 2010）
showed that the average number of male physical education teachers including part-time instructor was 2.0, and the female ones 1.1 in Heisei 21（2009）year. So the ratio of male teachers to female ones were almost 2. In 32.8％ of the schools, there was no female physical education teachers, and in 63.5％ there was just 1 female teacher. 70％ of the dance classes were taught by female teachers during Heisei 19─21（2007─2009）academic years. So it indicated that almost all female physical education teachers had dance classes.
On the other hand, ％ of the male teachers teaching dance was 10, 35 and 40 in Heisei 19, 20 and 21（2007, 2008 and 2009）years respectively, and 55％ of them were expected to have dance classes in Heisei 24（2012）year.
Also it was shown in Nakamura（2009; 2010）that there were no sex difference of the teachers in the coeducational dance classes, but in the separate classes, the teachers tended to teach in the class of the same sex. Taking into consideration such tendencies, the scarceness in the male dance teachers is too big a problem to be left.
For female dance teachers, on the other hand, there was no
“None”, but 1/3 was “1” in the present survey（Table 2. 3）. There was just a school where a professional dancer was hired as a part-time instructor.
（3） Hours assigned for dance class a year
“No class” here was due to the guide that dance can be taught in the 1st grade and／or 2nd grade（New Guideline, p. 92）.
Although “Less than 10 hours” was most frequent in the 2nd grade curriculum, “Between 10─19 hours” was most in the 1st grade curriculum（Tables 2. 4; 2. 5）.
In Nakamura（2009; 2010）, the average hours for dance a year
were 7 for male 1st and 2nd graders, and 9 for female 1st and 2nd graders. 7.5 hours and 8.5 hours a year were predicted to assign for dance for male and female 1st＋2nd graders respectively in Heisei 24 year. So the actual hours assigned for
Table 2. 3 # of dance teacher（female）
# f ％
None 2 5.4
1 11 29.7
2 8 21.6
3 9 24.3
4 3 8.1
Unknown or no response 4 10.8
Total 37 100.0
Table 2. 4 Hours for dance a year（1st grade）
Hours f ％
No class 9 24.3
Less than 10 7 18.9
10─19 8 21.6
20─29 3 8.1
More than 30 4 10.8
Unknown or no response 6 16.2
Total 37 100
Table 2. 5 Hours for dance a year（2nd grade）
Hours f ％
No class 10 27.0
Less than 10 8 21.8
10─19 6 16.2
20─29 5 13.5
More than 30 3 8.1
Unknown or no response 5 13.5
Total 37 100
dance after the requirement turned to be significantly longer than what was predicted. There found were the schools that assigned longer than 30 hours for dance a year.
It should be noted that in the 3rd grade, in which dance is no more compulsory, more hours were assigned than in the 1st and 2nd grades（Table 2. 6）. In the New Guideline, the 3rd graders can choose one from the group of Apparatus Gymnastics, Track and Field, Swimming and Dance. The above results suggest that dance attracts students more strongly than other fields of the sports. Such attractiveness of dance was revealed also in free description in another survey of Yonezawa（2012）for the male and female 1st and 2nd graders.
（4） Kinds of dance employed
The creative dance was employed in 64.9％ of the classes
（mainly of the female 1st to 3rd graders）, the contemporary rhythmic dance in 51.4％, and the fork dance in 16.2％ with multiple choices in the present survey（Table 2. 7, Figure 2. 1）.
That the creative dance was chosen more than the contemporary rhythmic one, and that the fork dance was reduced to half strongly conflict with the predictions in Nakamura（2009;
2010）, in which 60％ of the male 1st and 2nd classes would employ the contemporary rhythmic dance in Heisei 24 year, 38％
the creative one and 32％ the fork dance, while 62％, 49％ and 30％ for the female classes respectively.
Table 2. 6 Hours for dance a year（3rd grade）
Hours f ％
No class 6 16.2
Less than 10 4 10.8
10─19 10 27.0
20─29 6 16.2
More than 30 5 13.5
Unknown or no response 6 16.2
Total 37 100
Many schools combined more than 2 or 3 different kinds of dances. In Nakamura（2009; 2010）, the average number of dances employed was 1.2 for male dance classes and 1.3 for female classes in Heisei 19（2007）year, and it was predicted to increase.
Table 2. 7 Kinds of dance employed
Kinds of dances f ％
Creative 7 18.9
Contemporary 6 16.2
Others 1 2.7
Fork＋Creative 2 5.4
Fork＋Contemporary 1 2.7
Creative＋Contemporary 9 24.3 Fork＋Creative＋Contemporary 2 5.4
Contemporary＋Others 2 5.4
Creative＋Others 3 8.1
Creative＋Contemporary＋Others 1 2.7
Fork＋Others 1 2.7
Unknown or no response 2 5.4
Total 37 100.0
Figure 2. 1 Kinds of dance employed
Other dances were combined with three main dances more frequently in the present survey（21.6％）than what was predicted.
As shown above, the creative dance was chosen in more classes than the contemporary one in the present survey in contradiction with Nakamura（2009, 2010, 2012）, Asano &
Kumagai（2011）and Nomura（2012）. It would be desirable if not only the contemporary rhythmic dance, but other kinds of dances including “Others” were employed in the actual classes.
The decrease of fork dance to half in choice in Heisei 24（2012）
year is presumably due to the rapid increase in people’s and also students’ interest to the contemporary rhythmic and the creative dances via many kinds of the medias.
Nakamura（2009）, however, pointed out that there must be some errors in data because the classification of dance is more or less ambiguous.
（5） On the coeducational learning of dance
“Good” response was 51.4％（Table 2. 8, Figure 2. 2）. Bellow were some reported reasons:
・Just watching the good points of the students of other sex each other is worthy to be learned.
・Dancing in which the students of different sexes communicate through physical expressions is very important.
・They stimulate each other, because they move differently and think differently.
・Dance would be scaled up more if learned coeducationally than learned in separate classes.
・The differences in ability between male and female are clear in, say, ball games, but since dancing is an art, there is no sexual difference in their ability for expressions.
・They stimulate each other, because they have different
good points.
・It is necessary for both male and female to make expressions by heart and body.
・They can express their own good points.
・It is necessary for both of them to know each other.
・It is stimulating to act with people who have different muscles and softness.
On the other hand, the main reasons for “Neither good nor bad”
and “Bad” were as bellow.
・Since there is the sexual difference in motivation, it is difficult to which side to focus.
・They can act and compose more freely without the eyes of other sex.
・They become shy.
・They can create works special to each sex in the separate classes, but they can create the works with more varieties in the coeducational classes.
・It is hard for both sexes to act the same movements.
・There is a difference in the depth of interest for dance between the two sexes.
・They care about other peoples’ eyes.
In Nakamura（2009; 2010）, 24.1％ of the responses were “Good”
about the coeducational learning. So ％ positive for the coeducation doubled after the requirement.
On the other hand, 13.5％ were “Bad” about the coeducational learning. In Nakamura（2009; 2010）, it was 37.1％. But 29.7％
were “Neither good nor bad” in the present study, while 39.9％
were in Nakamura（2009; 2010）. Despite “Good” was dominant, high ％ of such neutral response, “Neither good nor bad”, suggest that the coeducational learning for dance is still on the transition.
Such skepticism, however, may vanish as the time passes, as indicated in the increase in “Good” response.
It was also reported that the students, both male and female
1st graders, were more and more positive for the coeducational learning after they experienced it（Matsumura, 1995）. The reason for it was, on both sides, that they learned much from the sexual difference in their movements. Matsumura（1995）also pointed out that male students tends to be absorbed in dancing unexpectedly. In an another investigation for the 1st graders made by the present author（Yonezawa, 2012）, it was suggested that rather male students have more positive attitudes for dance.
Table 2. 8 On the coeducational learning of dance
Choices f ％
Good 19 51.4
Bad 5 13.5
Neither good nor bad 11 29.7 Unknown or no response 2 5.4
Total 37 100.0
Figure 2. 2 On the coeducational learning of dance
The author herself, as a dancer, is positive for the coeducational learning of dance. There must be various forms in dance, depending on the case. Whether the dance can move people deeply must not be due to whether it is performed by male dancers or female dancers or together. But generally, it seems to the author, the dance would give people greater impressions when it is performed by dancers of both sexes.
Another point is that of a dance as a life-long movement. People of both sexes must dance together eventually as they get old.
Learning dance coeducationally is a good opportunity for exercise of it.
（6） On the requirement of dance for both sexes
The response of “Good” was remained at 45.9％. That of “Bad”
was 10.8％ and “Neither good nor bad” was 37.8％（Table 2. 9, Figure 2. 3）. Bellow were some reasons for “Good”.
・In these times when the communications by words are emphasized, the expressions by body are necessary for both sexes.
・％ of male is growing up among dance population.
・It is recommended for both sexes to enjoy the expressions by body.
・Dance cultivates male students’ rhythmic sense and enjoyable as a sweaty sport except for ball games.
・It is unnecessary to draw a line between both sexes.
・It is a good opportunity to watch each other’s dancing, and they can recognize their differences and good points.
・It is good to remove the sexual differences.
・Some male students are good at dancing, while not good at ball games.
・Their hearts feel light by moving their bodies rhythmically, and when they act with good teamwork, the classes are united.
・This is a trend of the times when rather male students make effort to dance.
On the other hand, bellow were some reasons for “Bad” and
“Neither good nor bad”.
・Male students enjoy the contemporary rhythmic dance, but the creative dance is difficult for them.
・Had better to try together in other sports than dance.
・The teachers（the persons in the teaching side）cannot catch up the requirement.
・Because only the contemporary rhythmic dance（hip-hop and so on）attracts attention.
・It is hard to imagine the male students dancing.
・I feel difficulty in treatment of the students who would not like to move, or are not good at expressing themselves.
・Too big a load for the teachers who are not good at dancing.
・Since the children today recognize hip-hop as dance, the teachers whose specialty is not dance feel pressured.
・It seems that there are many students, whatever male or female, who feel poor at dancing.
・There is few teachers whose specialty is dance.
・The system has not been established in the schools to have training course for dance.
・The curriculum may be better in which the field of the sports can be chosen depending on the circumstance of the school, rather than the requirement.
In Nakamura（2009; 2010）, “Very good” and “Good” were 36.8％
together, “Bad” and “Very bad” were 35.9％ together, and
“Neither good nor bad” was 27.8％. These results indicates that the teachers did not have any strong perspective for the requirement of dance for both sexes at that stage.
The author, as a dancer, is positive for this matter also. She wishes dance to be more active in this country. The scholastic requirement of dance for both boys and girls in middle schools is a good opportunity for them to experience dance, leading to the increase in dance population. However, the dance taught there
must be of various forms inevitablly.
（7）The structure of the attitudes of the teachers for dance Table 2. 10 shows the results of factor analysis（principal factor method with oblique solution of promax method）. Based on the eigenvalue of ＞1.5, the factor loading of ＞0.5 and the contents of the items, 4 factor were extracted and named as follows
（cumulative contribution ratio＝71.56％）. The SPSS was used for calculation.
Table 2. 9 On the requirement of dance for both sexes
Choices f ％
Good 17 45.9
Bad 4 10.8
Neither good nor bad 14 37.8 Unknown or no response 2 5.4
Total 37 100.0
Figure 2. 3 On the requirement of dance for both sexes
factor1＝Difficulty characteristic to dance ＋ Lack of self- confidence of the teachers
factor2＝Individual difference among the students factor3＝Motivation for male students
factor4＝Evaluation
The factor analysis was applied again for the items consisting of factor 1, but another factor was not extracted more.
3．General Discussion
Comparing the results obtained in Heisei 20（2008）year, before the requirement and those in Heisei 24（2012）year, after the requirement, factors 1 to 3 were found commonly as the point of difficulty in dance.
A new factor found in the results of Invest. II, was “Evaluation”
as the difficulty in dance. The time has now come when the teachers must evaluate both dance performances and students in the face of the requirement of dance. The evaluation of the performances of dance is assumed to be one of the elements in the evaluation of the students.
Concerning the evaluation of dance, it is difficult to draw a line between “Did” and “Did not” and “Good performance” depends on the teacher, sometimes leading to difficulty of overall evaluation
（Asano & Kumagai, 2011）. Therefore many trials for evaluation have been reported（Hosokawa et al., 2005; Miyamoto, 2005）.
Murata（2008a; b）and Takahashi（2008）pointed out that
“What to express” is the image in the creative dance and and the rhythm in the contemporary rhythmic dance, but “How to express” is not fixed. It is free in these two kinds of dances
（Ohashi & Kumagai, 2009）. Such characteristics of these dances would be one of the reasons for difficult evaluation of it.
“Individual differences among students”, “Motivating male
students” and “Evaluation” could be “factor-integrated” into
“Individual difference”. This is, it seems to the author, fatal to dance possessing aesthetic aspects common with other arts in general.
The author’s points for evaluation of dance performance are:
a. Whether he/she moves coincidentally with music or not b. Whether his/her movement is recognized clearly from
far or Whether it is unambiguous when seen from far c. Whether he/she does move his/her hands and legs
widely
d. Whether he/she keeps his/her eyes fixed
Other important points in the evaluation of dance performance from a point of a dancer or a dance composer may be the temporal interval（“Ma” in Japanese）between actions and the connections between the scenes.
The author, as a dance teacher, evaluate the students on the basis how they work together in dancing and/or in preparing and ending the class, how much they make efforts to improve their
Table 2. 10 The structure of attitudes of teachers for dance
dancing and so on.
As stated above, it was shown from another survey carried out by the present author for the male and female 1st graders of middle schools that male students expressed more positive attitude than female students toward dance saying “very content”
or “eager to dance more”（Yonezawa, 2012）. Matsumura（1995）
found the same attitudes for male students as early as in 1995.
Those results suggest that the male students, by nature, have strong preference to dance potentially, showing the possibility to draw somehow male students’ motivation, say, by teachers’ words or attitudes（Matsumoto & Nakamura, 1995; Ito et al., 2000;
Nakamura et al., 2001; Ito & Hayashi, 2002）.
In Nakamura（2009; 2010）, the contemporary rhythmic dance was predicted to be employed most in the 1st and 2nd grades in Heisei 24（2012）year, this year, but actually the creative dance was chosen more in our survey.
Nakamura（2012）pointed out as a reason for the high possibility of the contemporary rhythmic dance in choice, “The students are strongly interested in the contemporary rhythmic dance and the teachers predict that the students will learn dancing by themselves”, but she also gives a warning, by saying
“the teachers make the students mimic the performances she/he has learned before in, say, a dance studio or something or rely entirely on the “able students” in the class. In such classes the students could dance well, ……but they would not be able to express themselves eventually”（Nomura, 2012）.
Some teachers gave similar opinions in our survey as illustrated above leading to negative attitude toward the requirement of dance.
However, the situation would be acceptable if only the contemporary rhythmic dance is not chosen actually, as found in our survey.
Concerning “the school dance”, it seems to the author, that various forms of dance, in addition to the creative, the fork and
the contemporary rhythmic dances must be introduced to make the students meet various experiences, and it seems necessary if possible for them to see professional dancing for the same reason.
4．Conclusion
Following the modification of the Curriculum Guidelines, dance has been a compulsory subject in the middle schools from Heisei 24（2012）year.
In the present study, the results of the surveys in Heisei 20
（2008）year, before the requirement, and that in Heisei 24
（2012）, after the requirement, on the circumstances around dance and the attitudes of the teachers to dance were analyzed. The followings were concluded.
a. Dance was a compulsory subject in almost 90％ of the schools surveyed in Heisei 24（2012）year, which is much higher than what was predicted in Nakamura（2009; 2010）.
b. The creative dance was chosen in more classes（64.9％）
than the contemporary rhythmic dance（51.4％）, while the latter was predicted to be dominant in Nakamura（2009; 2010）. The fork dance was reduced half in Heisei 24（2012）year（16.2％）
than what was predicted in Nakamura（2009; 2010）.
c. Four factors were extracted from the factor analysis applied to the difficulties the teachers feel at this stage： Difficulty characteristic to dance + Lack of self-confidence of the teachers, Individual differences in the students, Motivation for male students and Evaluation.
d. ％ of ““Bad”＋“Neither good nor bad” together for the coeducation in dance and for the requirement of dance for both sexes were up to 43.2 and 48.6 respectively, which suggest that the evaluation for these guidelines are not fixed still at this stage.
References
Asano, Aimi & Kumagai, Kayo（2011）Development of teaching materials for contemporary rhythm dance in junior high school compatible with the new official physical education guidelines that designate dancing as a required element, Gifu University, Faculty of Education, The research Report, A Study of Educational Practice（岐阜大学教育学部研究報告 教育実践研究）13, 55─67.（in Japanese）
Hosokawa, Eriko, Midori, Sato & Miyamoto, Otome（2005）
Evaluation of students’ dancing skill in a creative dance class
（Establishment of a dancing skill evaluation standard）, A Study of Dance & Education（舞 踊 教 育 学 研 究）7, 3─17.（in Japanese with English abstract）
Ito, Michiko & Hayashi, Michie（2002）Consideration of dance class from the viewpoints of teacher behavior and student evaluation, Japan Journal of Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences（体 育 学 研 究） 47, 333─346.（in Japanese with English abstract）
Ito, Michiko, Okazawa, Yoshinori, Hayashi, Michie & Kitajima Junko（2000）A comparison of the effect of teacher behavior on dance classes and on physical education classes, The Bulletin of Osaka University of Health and Sport Sciences
（大 阪 体 育 大 学 紀 要）31, 9─17.（in Japanese with English abstract）
Matsumura, Keiko（1995）Making the coeducational classes in the middle schools, Physical Education（体育科教育）43, 7, 43
─46.（in Japanese）
Matsumoto, Tomiko & Nakamura, Naomi（1995）The effective teacher’s instruction on student’s learning results of creative dance education class, Gunma University, A Study of Educational Practice（群馬大学教育実践研究）12, 121─131.
Miyamoto, Otome（2005）Evaluation of dance performance by students in a creative dance class, The Bulletin of Middle School Attached to Ochanomizu University（お茶の水大学附
属中学校紀要）34, 65─86.（in Japanese）
Ministry of Education（1977）The middle school curriculum guidelines, National Printing Bureau, Ministry of Finance, Tokyo.
Ministry of Education（1989）The middle school curriculum guidelines, National Printing Bureau, Ministry of Finance, Tokyo.
Ministry of Education（1998）The commentary to the middle school curriculum guidelines（Physical Education）, Higashiyama Pub. Ltd.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
（2008）The middle school curriculum guidelines, Higashiyama Pub. Ltd.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
（2008）The commentary to the middle school curriculum guidelines（Physical Education）, Higashiyama Pub. Ltd.
Murata, Yoshiko（2008 a）What are the contents to be learned in the classes of expressive movements and dance? -Connecting the learned contents with “acquisition, application &
exploration”-, Physical Education（体 育 科 教 育）56, 14─18.
（in Japanese）
Murata, Yoshiko（2008 b）A lecture presented at the symposium in the 28th National creative dance workshop（Fukushima）
（In Ohashi & Kumagai, The outline of the New curriculum guideline and Towards the requirement of dance, A Study of Dance & Education（舞 踊 教 育 学 研 究）11, 40─52, 2009）.（in Japanese）
Nakamura, Kyoko（2009）A research on the transition of the dance curriculum in junior high schools which obey the new guideline for physical education as compulsory and coeducational-Annual transition of the 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2012 fiscal year-, Research Journal of Japan Association of Physical Education for Women（女 子 体 育）26, 1─16.（in Japanese with English abstract）
Nakamura, Kyoko（2010）A research on the transition of the dance curriculum in junior high schools which follow the new guideline for physical education as compulsory and coeducational-Based on a survey of public junior high schools in Tokyo-, Journal of Health and Sports Science Juntendo
（順天堂大学スポーツ健康科学研究）1, 4（No. 16）, 472─485.
（in Japanese with English abstract）
Nakamura, Kyoko（2012）An interview（In Nomura, A panic in middle schools in the face of the requirement of dance, AERA, No. 2012. 4. 2, 40─41, 2012）.（in Japanese）
Nakamura, Kyoko, Takei, Masako & Urai, Takao（2001）A concern by comparison with self evaluation to mutual evaluation, regarding dance lesson─An assistance to evaluation of creative dance by appreciation─, Journal of Health and Sports Science Juntendo（順天堂大学スポーツ健 康科学研究）5, 8─15.（in Japanese with English abstract）
Nomura, Shoji（2012）A panic in middle schools on the requirement of dance, AERA, No. 2012. 4. 2, 40─41, 2012.（in Japanese）
Ohashi, Nakisa and Kumagai, Kayo（2009）The outline of the New curriculum guideline and Towards the requirement of dance,A Study of Dance & Education（舞 踊 教 育 学 研 究）11, 40─52, 2009）.（in Japanese）
Shibata, Kazuhiro（2008）How are the problems to be resolved in the face of the requirement of budo and dance ? Physical Education（体育科教育）6, 40─43.（in Japanese）
Takahashi, Kazuko（2008）A lecture presented at the symposium in the 28th National creative dance workshop
（Fukushima）（In Ohashi & Kumagai, The outline of the New curriculum guideline and Towards the requirement of dance, A Study of Dance & Education（舞踊教育学研究）11, 40─52, 2009）.（in Japanese）
Takahashi, Rumiko, Kodama, Takafumi & Nagao, Maiko（2008）
The Class of the Dance that the Artists Make-For the
Compulsory Subject of the Junior High School Dance-, Miyazaki University, The Bulletin of the General Education
& Practice Center of the Faculty of Education and Culture
（宮崎大学教育文化学部附属教育実践総合センター研究紀要）
16, 11─23.（in Japanese）
Takahashi, Rumiko, Nobe, Souhei, Higashizono, Eiko, Takahashi, Kyoko, Tanaka, Kazutaka, Nobe, Maiko & Yoshii Yasuhiro
（2010）The Learning of the Substantial Dance with the Consistency from a Kindergarten to the Junior High School：
For the Compulsory Subject of the Junior High School Dance, Miyazaki University, The Bulletin of the General Education
& Practice Center of the Faculty of Education and Culture
（宮崎大学教育文化学部附属教育実践総合センター研究紀要）
18, 189─200.（in Japanese）
Yonezawa, Michiko（2012）A handout presented at the intermediate conference of the Graduate School of the Human Sciences, Kanagawa University, July 2012.（in Japanese）
Appendix
■ Table 1a Sex of the respondents in Invest. II
Sex f ％
Male 8 21.6 Female 29 78.4 Total 37 100
■ Table 2a Age of the respondents in Invest. II
Age f ％
Younger than 29 6 16.2
30─39 11 29.7
40─49 14 37.8
Older than 50 6 16.2 Total 37 100
■ Table 3a Carrier of the respondents as a physical education teacher in Invest. II
Carrier（years） f ％ Less than 5 3 8.1
5─9 7 18.9
10─14 12 32.4
20─24 11 29.7
More than 30 4 10.8 Total 37 100
■ Table 4a Carrier of the respondents in teaching dance in Invest. II
Carrier（year） f ％
Less than 5 9 24.3
5─9 6 16.2
10─14 6 16.2
20─24 12 32.4
More than 30 3 8.1
Unknown or no response 1 2.7
Total 37 100
■ Table 5a Kinds of learning
（Classes in male and female schools are included in separate learning）
Kinds of learning f ％
Coeducational 9 24.3
Separate 25 67.6
Coeducational＋Separate 1 2.7 Unknown or no response 2 5.4
Total 37 100
